Cueva Ventana

El lugar es hermoso, la compañía un desastre. Fui en un día que había lloviznado. Estaba tan enfangado que no se podía caminar, el camino sumamente resbaloso e inestable, lleno de niños y personas mayores y a ellos parece no importarles mucho. Si es peligroso y no es seguro lo deberían cerrar en esos días. Los empleados se veían muy agotados y amargados — hicieron lo mejor que podían pero eso deja decir mucho de sus condiciones de trabajo. Puedo decir que la explicaciones y la información provista fue muy buena. Las taquillas han subido demasiado: $ 10 general y $ 19 si eres extranjero (sin impuestos) — un asalto sobretodo considerando lo poco seguro que es el lugar.
— Ah! Y habían unos empleados allí vestidos de indios que de Nativos Americanos del norte bien, pero de Taínos ni un pelo.

We came here in mid-​January. We paid about $ 20 per person for entry, which included a guided tour and a hard hat for protection. The guide was informative and the walk through the various caves was interesting. Since there was no one else in our group, we received good service. We took a lot of pictures when we got to the window cave and never felt hurried.
I’ve never explored a cave before so it was an interesting experience, but I would not go back due to the price. During our entire trip, we explored the outdoors for basically free so it was quite a shock to pay $ 20 for a 15 minute tour.

This is one of those things that you’ll do once in your life and will never return to visit again. Why you may ask? Well, for starters, I think this is highly over priced activity. I paid $ 100+ tax for a family for 5. My family and I probably spent about an hour and a half at this place and did not enjoy the adventure as much as we thought we would. Prior to visiting this place, we stopped at La Cueva Del Indio in Arecibo and enjoyed that 100 times more and only paid $ 15.00 for the whole family. The 10.00 entry fee is for locals. Visitors are 20.00 per person.
If you really must go, then you must, but there are so many other adventures in Puerto Rico that will leave you with memories to last a lifetime. This one did not meet the expectations of any member in our group but we had to go in order to get the picture below.

As usual, you CANNOT solely rely on your google maps or iPhone maps to navigate you to your destination in Puerto Rico. My boyfriend and I had a hard time finding Cueva Ventana. In fact, we ended up driving down to the valley that you can actually see from the cave!
You cannot venture the cave by yourself and the only way to get to it is through Adventura Cueva Ventana. The entrance is right off highway 10, next to Puma gas station. When we got to the entrance, these were the coordinates: 18.374 924, –66.692 335.
Taino Indians once inhabited the cave and today, Cueva Ventana houses 3 different species of bats! This tour requires one to «hike» up and into the caves. It’s more of a stroll if you ask me, but it’s definitely not wheelchair accessible.
You first encounter one cave and shortly after you arrive the second cave, you are provided one flashlight per two persons. The guides are informative and explicitly warn you of the paths you should not walk.
When you get to the window view, there is a cornucopia of bats and inevitably, there’s tons of bat guano on the ground. The view is pretty captivating, but of course is ruined by those who are too preoccupied with their cameras and selfies. I guess it’s like that everywhere, but to make the experience more enjoyable, the company should really do something about regulating the whole photo op situation and the amount of people per tour group. For example, they can limit the amount of photos people can take.
Congregations of people end up hanging around the window, trying to enjoy the view, while narcissistic individuals end up hogging the window. Yes, I’m complaining because there were particular people who felt the need to take 200+ selfie photos for the Gram. It’s not safe to inhale bat guano fumes, as they can carry the histoplasmosis fungus. The entire time, many people ended up waiting for the aforementioned narcissistic individuals to finish taking photos. It’s unfortunate we didn’t really get to enjoy the window cave, as the next group was already coming in.
Again, the window cave is no doubt very beautiful, but the tour can be improved upon.
It was expensive ($ 19 per non PR resident), but if you’re in PR for the first time, then heck why not? It’s one of those «one time for the one time» type things.

I was a bit on the fence about doing this tour since so many people on Unilocal complained about the price, but I’m so glad I did it!
I found a discounted ticket on the Cueva Ventana website. It was for $ 16.50 a person after tax for two people it was $ 36 something. Still a bit pricy compared to what the locals pay, but I’ve been to many countries where locals pay less for the attractions/​activities than tourists.
We walked up the trail to where the guides were waiting. We had just missed a tour, there were only two of us, I thought for sure we were going to have to wait forever like many people said they did. We didn’t, after about 10 min, they said we were starting the tour. It was still just us!
We ended up getting a tour for just the two of us! The guides were very knowledgeable and friendly. The view is amazing, I could’ve stared at it all day (dorky, I know).
I highly recommend it, you’re on vacation. Splurge the money and have a great time!

Totally not worth all the wait and money! Beautiful view I must say, but it’s only for that one spot. The tour is super short but takes FOREVER. This is not a tour for people who are unable to physically climb over rocks to get in. When you arrive there, they make you wait about an hour until they get enough people to come. Then to get there you have to wait to make sure everyone gets through all the rock climbing and that takes a long time Alf so. The tour itself is 1.5 hours cause of all the waiting and the people want to tame pictures at the special view site. Not worth $ 21 and a little over 2.5 hours of time. The only reason for 2 stars is the view. So if you have time and the money, do it. Otherwise, skip it.

Caves were amazing! I have never been to one before and couldn’t believe that we were able to actually see the bats! Our guide was friendly and price was ok ~$ 20.
It took about an hour

Indignada por completo: Ayer llevé a dos visitantes extranjeras a Cueva Ventana y me encuentro con la desagradable sorpresa de que el precio de entrada son $ 21 para aquellos que no residen en Puerto Rico. Una atracción como esa no debería costar tanto dinero, es una falta de respeto para el turismo.
NO PATROCINE A CUEVA VENTANA!!!

Short hike and an AMAZING view! It feels a bit surreal when you are in it and see it with your own eyes. To see it in photos is even more of a trip! Do take caution as it’s completely wide open. We saw some nuns come in too which is awesome that they were walking around the caves.
Sure, there’s different prices for the locals/​Puerto Ricans ($ 10) versus the non-​boricuas/​travelers/​tourists ($ 20) but other countries also do this. While it’s easy to feel like you’re getting ripped off (and let’s be serious, knowing that you’re paying more isn’t a good feeling), there also has to be an understanding that the economy there isn’t doing so well. To make it more accessible to the locals, they offer a lower price accordingly.
If you’re going to be in the area, you should probably check out the telescope at the Arecibo Observatory. Just make sure you check the hours for wherever you’re going.

I was very excited to see this cave. The photos that I seen were breath taking.
I rate this cave a 3 star because it was very expensive for a 30 minute tour. It cost $ 43 for two people with tax that makes it $ 20 per person since we are not locals. It is $ 10 a person if you area local.
We go spelunking into hide caves in Arizona so it wasn’t anything like what we’ve seen. But if it’s your first time seeing a cave then it would be more exciting.
Photos show people standing closer to the opening and when I went they said I couldn’t go any closer than where I was standing. And it was actually pretty far back. I hike and rock climb a lot so I’m very carful.

The view was amazing in the last cave, which is called the Window Cave. You go through 2 caves on the tour though. The tour guides were actually very nice and welcoming also. The admission is about $ 19 but $ 11 if your Puerto Rican. The trail can be a little difficult to climb, you have to just be very careful!!! Anyways I recommend, especially for the view in the Window Cave!

This is one of the to go places in Puerto Rico. You get to take a picture of yourself as a sillhoutte and show off to your friends. There is no view like it in any other place in the world. It’s very conveniently located near the Puma gas station with clean bathrooms there or there is also bathrooms near the entrance. There is free parking and also food vendors. I bought the pinchos from the food truck lady and it was AMAZING! Be prepared to walk a lot and carry hiking gear like water, a bar, and also wear boots or sneakers. Dress lightly and comfortable clothing because you will be walking in steep areas and also a lot of stairs.
~45.00 for 4 people. I used my friend’s Puerto Rican license for a discount.

Cueva Ventana is Puerto Rico’s highest cave at over 800 feet above sea level and from the inside of the cave looking out Ives you a breath taking view of the central mountain range from here you can see Puerto Rico’s tallest mountain a must do tour fully guided by experienced tour guides and you can meet some of the ancestors of Puerto Rico’s Tainos our native Indians.

$ 20 for non-​Puerto Ricans. Park at either the gas station or go up the hill and park in the vast dirt parking lot, but the table to buy the tickets is at the bottom by the gas station. Also beside the table are stairs that pass a bathroom and lead you to where you meet the tour guide and get your helmets.
My boyfriend and I got there around 10am on a Sunday. They had us wait about 20 minutes until there were 15 people in our group before we started on the tour. The guy working there told us that it gets busy around 11 – 12, to a point where there are about 25 people per group
The guided part of the tour was boring. You basically walk 15 minutes to and inside the cave with the tour guide before he leaves you be at the window. He spent most of the time speaking Spanish and once in a while translated to English (my boyfriend and I were the only non-​Spanish speakers there.
At the window cave, the tour guide doesn’t let you get very close to the edge even though he most popular photo of Cueva Ventana depicts a man literally standing at the very edge of it. However, he left and a few people walked down to take pictures there anyway.
2 stars because it was an amazing sight. Not more because the tour sucked and was pricey for what you got.

Worth it! It’s $ 20/​person for non Puerto Ricans but I sweet talked the lady at the front and she gave us the $ 10/​person deal. It’s beautiful. I didn’t look up to see the bats. I went for the view at the end which was worth it!

Based on the great Unilocal reviews, we came here while in the Arecibo area.
For the record, it is currently (as of March 2015) $ 20 for Non-​Puerto Ricans and only $ 10 if you are Puerto Rican and you must have ID. That price difference is ridiculous and I can’t believe people will pay that.
We were expecting to pay $ 10 pp (per Unilocal) and was surprised to see the $ 20 price tag. We weren’t willing to pay $ 20 pp for this tour just because we were not Puerto Rican. Mind you, you only get a flashlight and helmet and then you go on the quick tour. Thanks but no thanks. I will spend my money elsewhere.

Cueva Ventana provides you a really great, beautiful view of the surrounding valley.
Just an FYI, it’s located in an unexpected location. The entrance is right off a gas station and it’s super easy to miss. We missed it on our way there, and had to drive probably 7 – 8 miles before there was a place to turn around and come back the opposite way. The entrance is $ 10 + tax per person, so $ 10.70 total per person. When there’s a group that’s big enough, you leave with a guide (which isn’t usually a problem, my boyfriend and I were the first people there around 10:30 am, and then another group of 3 joined 5 minutes later so then we left). We had a really good guide who pointed out many things in the cave and along the way, i.e. bats, snakes, cockroaches (don’t worry — you don’t have to get close if you don’t want to, and it really depends on the time of day if they are out and about). He also spent some time discussing the history of the cave and the surrounding region.
The hike itself is really not strenuous, perhaps 15 minutes of very leisurely walking on a dirt trail, plus maybe 30 – 40 minutes of again, very leisurely walking throughout the cave. The end of the tour is Cueva Ventana, which, as the name implies, is basically when the cave forms a window overlook to the surrounding valley. What a gorgeous view with the river, luscious green landscape, etc. You are provided as much time as you like to take pictures, explore around, etc. Afterwards, you are given the option to explore Cueva de la Luz, which was basically a small adjacent cave, not really too much to see there. The route back is the same as the way there.
Overall, had a great, relaxing experience here at Cueva Ventana!

Wow! That’s all I have to say! What a view!
This was the first time that I got to climb down into a cave. They really let you go exploring here in Puerto Rico! The guides for the cave were friendly, informative, and concerned about the environment, which is great.
By the way, when looking for a landmark to identify the entrance to this place, the gas station to look for is Puma, not Texaco.
We used a rope, stairs, and our own body strength to crawl down into the main cave. We hiked through the cave and saw various types of bats sleeping on the ceiling. Then we continued hiking until we saw the main attraction — La Ventana or the window of the cave. The view was unlike anything I’ve seen before.
We walked fairly close to the edge of the window and it was a view that I’ll never forget. As I got closer to the precipice, I could see the beautiful landscape below, which included a large, flowing river. We had to be about 700 feet off the ground and my fear of heights made me not get any closer. That, plus the guide made us stay away from the edge. There were no railings or safety harnesses to keep you from falling. Nope. If you got too close, you were going for a fall that you would never recover from. The view from the cave was simply amazing.
The cave itself, being formed by water over a millenia, was also amazing. Such a beautiful place! Just make sure you wash your hands upon exiting because there is guano (bat poo) covering every surface! It took our group about an hour and a half to complete our tour.

For $ 10 a person you just can’t ask for more. The tour starts with a short hike to the cave. They provide you with a helmet and a flashlight. The tour inside the cave is nice. The guides were also very nice. The view of the «ventana»…well you’ll love it.
See my pictures :)

Great and fun adventure.
For $ 10 you get a hard hat and a much needed flash light. You also get a tour guide that helps you and explain everything for you. They are very helpful and nice.
Please wear tennis shoes. Some areas are a little slippery.
Very cool experience and the view at the end of the cave is just beautiful!

Getting Here: From San Juan, I used my GPS towards Arecibo. Once you’re near take the Hwy 10 South. After about 10 – 15 minutes you will see the no longer operating black Puma gas station on your left side. There’s parking at the front of the station or there’s a dirt lot towards the back.
Entrance is $ 10 + VAT. Walk about 5 minutes to the meeting area where you’ll be greeted by a guide. There are stinky helmets to put on (no choice) and flashlights. You really only need 1 flashlight per couple since they’re pretty bothersome to carry. The guide will talk to you about some of the animals/​bugs/​tree life in the area on the way to the cave entrance. This is all pretty much beginner level terrain. But once you get to the cave entrance, it gets a little trickier. It’s like walking down steep large steps. It shouldn’t be an issue for most people, but if you have any issue squatting and maintaining balance, this may not be for you.
Once inside the cave, they talk a little more about the bats and other cave creatures, and 5 minutes later you’re at the window. My suggestion is to wait until everyone leaves to take better pictures. Also keep in mind the back lighting (light background, dark foreground) when taking pictures.
If you’re hungry, there are various foot shacks/​trucks along the way on the side of the road. Didn’t try any but some had a decent amount of people.

Cueva Venta was definitely worth the drive from San Juan!
My friends and I had an adventure just getting to this place since we were unfamiliar with the signs in Spanish on the roads/​tolls. There is a $ 10 entrance fee to hike the caves, which includes parking and gear (flashlights and helmet)!
Since we didn’t have lunch prior to coming here we brought food and enjoyed a light meal at their picnic area! After our lunch, we were greeted by a tour guide who was very eager to take us to the caves. We were also joined by other tourists and locals during the tour! The «hike» to the cave was about 10 — 15 minutes! Once we reached the cave opening we were then given flashlights and helmets before entering Cueva Ventana!
Inside, the tour guide warned us of bats and other animals that live in side the cave! The smell of bat poop can be overwhelming, but the view at the end of the cave was definitely a treat! We took a bunch of pictures and and enjoyed the breeze from the opening of the cave too!
This is a must do day trip when visiting Puerto Rico!